Can't access information on HD

I am in a crisis and I apologize for not speaking computerease - please help me!   I almost knocked my My Book off my desk - it dangled by the SATA cord, and when I took the case off the piece that the SATA cord plugs into was bent - it’s lifted off the green board. So, being me, I thought - well, just go get a new external case for it - so I did - and the guy at the computer shop was nice enough to install the drive into the case and connect it to an iMac to make sure it was ok.

The disc is not recognized by the iMac - it is encrypted and I was told that the key for this - whatever the term is - is unique to the case (the aforementioned little green board) that it came with. I was told to contact Western Digital - which I have done - I first called - and had no success with either the guy who answered the phone or this supervisor - who was actually really rude to me.  So I chalked it up to a language barrier and sexism on his part, and sent them a request for a replacement powerboard - whatever the part is - on Facebook and have not heard anything as of this writing (I sent the message on Friday night, it is almost noon on Monday). I am posting in here hoping someone will know a way to either get this part - that encryption code was written by someone, and that information is sitting on a server somewhere - - or how to get around it. I was told by the aforementioned computer guy that it is 512 bit encryption.  Amazing, since I do not recall being given the choice to encrypt or not when I set the dang thing up.

My business records/project files - and my photos are on this hard drive. I do not have the funds to go and get a new one - the hard drive is fine - data still there - cannot access it. Surely I am not the only person this has happened to.

PLEASE HELP!  Thanks!

Welcome to the Community.

I’m sorry to hear you had a negative experience with WD Support. However and due to the nature of this case I’d recommend a professional data recovery service since controller damage and encryption in manual attempts can further risk damaging the data inside the unit.

You can obtain a list of certified/professional data recovery companies and services in the following link:

http://support.wdc.com/recovery/index.asp?wdc_lang=en